Billiard-table



(NoModeL) P. M. CUNNINGHAM.

BILLIARD TABLE. j I

Patented Jan. 14, 18 96.

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1 UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

PATRICK M. CUNNINGHAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNS- IVICK-BALKECOLLENDEB COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BlLLlARD-TABLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,185, dated January 14, 1896. I Application filed December 18, 1894:. Serial No 532,198. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PATRICK M. CUNNING- HAM, a citizen of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Billiard- Tables, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part thereof.

Previous to my invention it has been cus' tomary, in the construction or manufacture of that kind of billiard-tables provided with pockets, (and used mostly for the game of fifteen-ball pool,) to have the ball-receptacles at each of the four corners and at the middle points of the sides of the table-bed provided with metallic devices, each made dishing and nearly hemispherical in shape, and adapted to receive a ball,when pocketed, and discharge it or permit it to pass thence by gravity inwardly and downwardly beneath the bed of the table into one of a series of ball-conduits 0r alley-Ways, from which all the pocketed balls run into a common receptacle, usually located at or near one end of the table, all in a manner well understood by the manufacturers and users of billiard and pool tables. The construction of such metallic ball-receptacles, and their arrangement on or with the table, has, however, always been such that each metallic device has been formed or provided with flange-like projections or parts that have fitted to and been secured (by wood-screws) to the outer surfaces of the broad rails or sides of the table-body, each corner iron or device being formed with flange-like projections, lying in planes coincident with those in which run the outer surfaces of the side and end broad rails, (which meet at the corner of the tablebody,) and each side-pocket iron being formed with a flange-like projection adapted to fit to the outer (beveled or other shaped) surface of the side rail of the table, all as well understood by those skilled in the art. In the use of metallic receptacles thus made, as heretofore, it has been necessary to have a differently shaped or made set of metallic devices for each shape or design (or pattern) of table-body, since any variation from a given degree of bevel to the broad rails of a plain beveled table renders necessary, of course, a corresponding variation in the obliquity or angle of the flange-like part or parts of each pocket-iron; and any variation from a plain or fiat surface for each broad rail of the table has rendered it neces sary to have the flange-like portions of the metallic pocket devices made of a different pattern to match the profile or design of the broad rails. Furthermore, in the use of such metallic devices as heretofore employed the presence of the flange-like parts on the outer surface of the broad rails, and secured thereto in sight, have somewhat detracted from the 6 5 otherwise beautiful appearance of the table.

I propose to provide for use metallic ballreceptacles for pool-tables which not only will not impair the exterior appearance and design of the table, but which, furthermore, shall be capable of securement (in place) to the woodwork of the table without any exposure to sight of the means of securement, and shall possess the capacity to fit equally well to tables of various shapes or designs of body.

To this main end and object my invention may be said to consist in a metallic ball-receptacle for billiard or pool tables adapted to extend inwardly from the locality at which the pocketed ball is received in said receptacle, and to be fastened to the woodwork of the table without fitting to the exterior surface of the table-body, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained, and as will be most particularly pointed out in the claim of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates to understand and practice my invention, either in the precise form in which I have so far carried it out, or under some modification thereof, I will now proceed to more fully describe it, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, which form part of thisspecification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top View of part of a pool-table with bed removed and showing applied to the table-body one corner and one side metallic ball-receptacle, each made according to my invention. As each of the loo other corner devices is a duplicate of the one shown and the other side-pocket device is like the one seen at this figure, except that the inwardly-extended part bends in the opposite direction, this figure sufficiently shows in top view the construction and combined arrangement with the table-body of my improved device. Fig. 2 is a detail vertical section at the line 00 a; of Fig. 1 drawn on a larger scale. Fig. 3 is a similar view taken at the line y y of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction there indicated by the arrow. Fig. i is a top view of a side-pocket casting adapted to go on the side of the table opposite to that seen at Fig. 1 and also of a modified construction. Fig. 5 is a side view of said metallic device of modified construction.

In the several figures I have designated the 'same part always by the same reference-letter.

A is part of the usual frame or body port-ion of an ordinary beveled pool table, the broad rails of which meet on a miter at each corner of the table. Q

B and O are respectively portions of the corner and side pocketball-conduits or alleyways down which balls, played into said pockets, run or travel toward and into the usual conduits or troughs, by which they are led into the final common receptacle for all the balls, (in the well-known manner,) each of which conduits B and 0 extends into a correspondingly-shaped cut-out or depression formed in the upper portions of the broad rails in the usual manner.

D is one of the corner-pocket metallic ballreceptacles, and E is one of the side-pocket castings, of the novel construction and applied in the manner peculiar to my invention.

The device D has its outer end or portion made (about as heretofore) In the shape of onequarter of a hollow sphere; but instead of having this part formed or provided with fiange-like projections adapted to be fitted and fastened to the outer surface of the tablebody, as heretofore, it is made without any such flanges and extends inwardly in the form of one-half of a hollow cylinder, (or in the shape of a semicylindrical gutter,) fitting into the usual recess in or cut out of the tablebody, all as clearly shown in the drawings.

Near the upper semicircular edge of its outer end the metallic plate or casting D has a series of perforations for the attachment thereto of the leather of the pocket-iron, or the upper edge or rim of the false pocket, in about the usual manner, and near the inner end of said device D are a series of holes for the accommodation of some ordinary wood screws 6, by means of which said device is securely fastened to the upper portion of the table-body. It will be seen that no matter what may be the degree of bevel of the outer surfaces of the broad rails, and no matter what may be'the shape or pattern of said surfaces in profile (or in vertical cross-section) the same metallic device D willperfectly fit to the table-body so long as the semicylin drical cut-out or recess in the top of the body conforms in shape to the cross-sectional configuration of the shell-like casting D; that, therefore, castings D from a given pattern will be perfectly adapted to or may be perfectly fitted onto the corner portions of tables of various shapes or designs of body, and that no projecting or other portions of. these metallic devices overlie any part of the exterior (finished) surface of the said body, only the rounded outer end portion of the casting D being exposed to View, and that nearly hidden from view bythe usual depending network of the false pocket.

Should it become necessary to refit the casting D to the table, when the latter may happen to require dressing down at the upper edge of the body, (in order to level the bedframe,) this may be done without in the slightest marring the finished exterior of the tablebody, since no part of the casting is fitted to said exterior surface, and the cut-out or recess in the woodwork may be cut deeper to lower the device D without any difficulty or objectionable results.

The side-pocket device E is, it will be seen, made on the same plan or after the same construction as the corner iron D, except that from the points in the casting at which the same would be cut by a plane indicated by the dotted line a I) (see Fig. 4) the semicylindrical part of the casting extends obliquely inward instead of straight, the bend being in one or the other direction, according to which side (the right or the left hand side) of the table the casting E is designed to be used on.

Instead of having the inward extensions of the metallic devices secured by screws entering the top portion of the table-body, as hereinbefore explained, the construction of the castings may be modified, asshown at Figs. 4 and 5, by the addition of horizontally-projecting ears or lug-like devices f at their upper edges, each having one or more screwholes g,whereby, through the media of screws, the said ear-like projections may be securely fastened to the under laterally-projecting surface of the bedframe of the table. Under such modification it is, however, necessary to let the ears f into the top surface of the woodwork of the table-body, so that the whole top surface of the casting will come fiush with the top of the body on which rests the bedframe.

Having now so fully set forth the construction and operation of my improved metallic pocket-gutter or ball-receptacle and conduit that those skilled in the art can readily practice my invention, either in the form shown or under some modification thereof, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a pool table having ball troughs, or alley Ways, for conducting the holed, or pocketed, balls from the vicinities of the pockets to a receptacle beneath the table, a ball-receptacle comprising an outer dish-shaped portion, to receive the ball; and an inward, guttershaped, extension fitting within the outer end portion of the alley-Way of the table; said ball receptacle being securely fastened to the Wood Work of the table, Without fitting, or securement, to the exterior surface of the table body. I0

I11 Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of November, 1894.

PATRICK M. CUNNINGHAM. In presence of CH. E. BROWN, JOE. W. SWAINE. 

